The Race Question
Encyclopedia
The Race Question is the first of four UNESCO
statements about issues of race. It was issued on 18 July 1950 following World War II
and Nazi racism. The statement was an attempt to clarify what was scientifically known about race and a moral condemnation of racism
. It was criticized on several accounts and a revised version publicized in 1951, in 1967 and in 1978.
, biology
, cultural anthropology
and ethnology
.
The original statement was drafted by Ernest Beaglehole
; Juan Comas
; Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto
; Franklin Frazier, sociologist specialised in race relations studies; Morris Ginsberg
, founding chairperson of the British Sociological Association
; Humayun Kabir
, writer, philosopher, and twice Education Minister of India; Claude Lévi-Strauss
, one of the founders of ethnology
and leading theorist of cultural relativism
; and Ashley Montagu
, anthropologist and author of The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity
, who was the rapporteur.
The text was then revised by Ashley Montagu following criticisms submitted by Hadley Cantril
; E. G. Conklin; Gunnar Dahlberg
; Theodosius Dobzhansky
, author of Genetics and the Origin of Species
(1937); L. C. Dunn; Donald Hager; Julian Huxley
, first director of UNESCO and one of the many key contributors to neo-Darwinian synthesis
; Otto Klineberg
; Wilbert Moore; H. J. Muller; Gunnar Myrdal
, author of An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944); Joseph Needham
, a biochemist specialist of Chinese science; and geneticist Curt Stern.
A 1948 UN Social and Economic Council resolution called upon UNESCO to consider the timeliness "of proposing and recommending the general adoption of a programme of dissemination of scientific facts designed to bring about the disappearance of that which is commonly called race prejudice." In 1949, the UNESCO adopted three resolutions which committed it to "study and collect scientific materials concerning questions of race", "to give wide diffusion to the scientific material collected", and "to prepare an education campaign based on this information." Before undertaking this campaign, the scientific position had to be clarified.
Furthermore, in doing this
The introduction also stated "Knowledge of the truth does not always help change emotional attitudes that draw their real strength from the subconscious or from factors beside the real issue." But it could "however, prevent rationalizations of reprehensive acts or behaviour prompted by feelings that men will not easily avow openly."
UNESCO also made a moral statement:
UNESCO would start a campaign to spread the results of the report to a "vast public" such as by publishing pamphlets. It described Brazil as having an "exemplary situation" regarding race relations and that research should be undertaken in order to understand the causes of this "harmony".
Some examples of differences include that the first version argued that there was no evidence for intellectual or personality differences. The revised version stated that "When intelligence tests, even non-verbal, are made on a group of non-literate people, their scores are usually lower than those of more civilised people" but concluded that "Available scientific knowledge provides no basis for believing that the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development."
Another that the revised version acknowledged but did not name the 3 major races which were called the Mongoloid, the Negroid, and the Caucasoid in the first version.
The first version stated that "National, religious, geographic, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups: and the cultural traits of such groups have no demonstrated genetic connection with racial traits. Because serious errors of this kind are habitually committed when the term ‘race’ is used in popular parlance, it would be better when speaking of human races to drop the term ‘race’ altogether and speak of ethnic groups." The revised version instead stated that the experts "agreed to reserve race as the word to be used for anthropological classification of groups showing definite combinations of physical (including physiological) traits in characteristic proportions."
sense, the word ‘race’ should be reserved for groups of mankind possessing well-developed and primarily heritable physical differences from other groups." These differences have been caused in part by partial isolation preventing intermingling, geography an important explanation for the major races, often cultural for the minor races. National, religious, geographical, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups.
Most anthropologists have classified humans into 3 large groups. Such a classification does not depend on any single physical character such as skin color. There is considerable overlap. With respect to most, if not all, measurable characters, the differences among individuals belonging to the same race are greater than the differences that occur between the observed averages for two or more races within the same major group.
Most anthropologists do not include mental characteristics in their classification of human races. "When intelligence tests, even non-verbal, are made on a group of non-literate people, their scores are usually lower than those of more
civilised people." However, overall, available scientific knowledge provides no basis for believing that the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development.
There is no evidence for the existence of so-called "pure" races" and no scientific justification exists for discouraging reproduction between persons of different races.
. In 1978, the UNESCO Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice stated that "All peoples of the world possess equal faculties for attaining the highest level in intellectual, technical, social, economic, cultural and political development" and "The differences between the achievements of the different peoples are entirely attributable to geographical, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors." Unlike the previous statement there was no consultation with scientific experts. It also argued for implementing a number of policies in order to combat racism and inequalities. It also stated that "Population groups of foreign origin, particularly migrant workers and their families who contribute to the development of the host country, should benefit from appropriate measures designed to afford them security and respect for their dignity and cultural values and to facilitate their adaptation to the host environment and their professional advancement with a view to their subsequent reintegration in their country of origin and their contribution to its development; steps should be taken to make it possible for their children to be taught their mother tongue."
A draft of the statement was prepared by the Director-General and "eminent specialists in human rights". It was discussed at a meeting by government representatives from over 100 member states. It was recommended that the representatives should include among them "social scientists and other persons particularly qualified to in the social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific aspects of the problem". A number of non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations sent observers. A final text of was adopted by the meeting of government representatives "by consensus, without opposition or vote" and later by the UNESCO General Conference, Twentieth Session.
In 1995, UNESCO published a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance to add to its dialogue about racial equality with recommendations for tolerant treatment of persons with varied racial and cultural backgrounds. It stated "Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is harmony in difference. It is not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal requirement. Tolerance, the virtue that makes peace possible, contributes to the replacement of the culture of war by a culture of peace."
The 1950 UNESCO statement contributed to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation
decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka".
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
statements about issues of race. It was issued on 18 July 1950 following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and Nazi racism. The statement was an attempt to clarify what was scientifically known about race and a moral condemnation of racism
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
. It was criticized on several accounts and a revised version publicized in 1951, in 1967 and in 1978.
Authors
The statements were signed by some of the leading researchers of the time, in the field of psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
and ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
.
The original statement was drafted by Ernest Beaglehole
Ernest Beaglehole
Ernest Beaglehole was a New Zealand psychologist and ethnologist best known for his work in establishing an anthropological baseline for numerous Pacific Island cultures.-Early life and education:...
; Juan Comas
Juan Comas
Juan Comas was born in the small town of Alayor, Spain, located in the center of the Menorca Island in the Mediterranean Sea, 150 miles southeast of Barcelona. He was born on January 23, 1900....
; Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto
Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto
Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto was a Brazilian sociologist. In his work, Pinto specialised on race relations in Brazil. He was one of the authors of the landmark UNESCO statement The Race Question, in 1950...
; Franklin Frazier, sociologist specialised in race relations studies; Morris Ginsberg
Morris Ginsberg
Morris Ginsberg was a UK sociologist. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1942 to 1943. Ginsberg helped draft the UNESCO 1950 statement titled The Race Question...
, founding chairperson of the British Sociological Association
British Sociological Association
The British Sociological Association is a scholarly and professional society for sociologists in the United Kingdom, and was founded in 1951. They publish the academic journals Sociology, Work, Employment and Society and Cultural Sociology as well as their membership newsletter...
; Humayun Kabir
Humayun Kabir
Humayun Zahiruddin Amir-i Kabir or Humayun Kabir was an Indian educationist, politician, writer and philosopher.-Ancestry and early life:...
, writer, philosopher, and twice Education Minister of India; Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, one of the founders of ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
and leading theorist of cultural relativism
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and...
; and Ashley Montagu
Ashley Montagu
Montague Francis Ashley Montagu was a British-American anthropologist and humanist, of Jewish ancestry, who popularized topics such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development...
, anthropologist and author of The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity
Joseph Merrick
Joseph Carey Merrick , sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital...
, who was the rapporteur.
The text was then revised by Ashley Montagu following criticisms submitted by Hadley Cantril
Hadley Cantril
-Biography:Born in Utah, he was educated at Dartmouth College and received his Ph.D. from Harvard. He joined the faculty of Princeton in 1936 and later became chairman of Princeton University Department of Psychology...
; E. G. Conklin; Gunnar Dahlberg
Gunnar Dahlberg
Dr. Gunnar Dahlberg was a Swedish physician, eugenist and geneticist.From 1922-1924 he was the assistant of Herman Lundborg at Statens institut för rasbiologi. In 1935, when Lundborg retired, Dahlberg succeeded him as the head of the institute.In September 1939, he was one of the signatories of...
; Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky ForMemRS was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis...
, author of Genetics and the Origin of Species
Genetics and the Origin of Species
Genetics and the Origin of Species is a 1937 book by the twentieth century Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky and one of the important books of the modern evolutionary synthesis. The book describes the Modern Synthesis of Evolution Theory, also known as Synthetic...
(1937); L. C. Dunn; Donald Hager; Julian Huxley
Julian Huxley
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...
, first director of UNESCO and one of the many key contributors to neo-Darwinian synthesis
Modern evolutionary synthesis
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution...
; Otto Klineberg
Otto Klineberg
Otto Klineberg was a Canadian psychologist.He held professorships in social psychology at Columbia University and the University of Paris...
; Wilbert Moore; H. J. Muller; Gunnar Myrdal
Gunnar Myrdal
Karl Gunnar Myrdal was a Swedish Nobel Laureate economist, sociologist, and politician. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the...
, author of An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944); Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
, a biochemist specialist of Chinese science; and geneticist Curt Stern.
Introduction
The introduction states that it was inevitable that UNESCO should take a position in the controversy. The preamble to the UNESCO constitution states that it should combat racism. The constitution itself stated that "The great and terrible war that has now ended was a war made possible by the denial of the democratic principles of the dignity, equality and mutual respect of men, and by the propagation, in their place, through ignorance and prejudice, of the doctrine of the inequality of men and races."A 1948 UN Social and Economic Council resolution called upon UNESCO to consider the timeliness "of proposing and recommending the general adoption of a programme of dissemination of scientific facts designed to bring about the disappearance of that which is commonly called race prejudice." In 1949, the UNESCO adopted three resolutions which committed it to "study and collect scientific materials concerning questions of race", "to give wide diffusion to the scientific material collected", and "to prepare an education campaign based on this information." Before undertaking this campaign, the scientific position had to be clarified.
Furthermore, in doing this
The introduction also stated "Knowledge of the truth does not always help change emotional attitudes that draw their real strength from the subconscious or from factors beside the real issue." But it could "however, prevent rationalizations of reprehensive acts or behaviour prompted by feelings that men will not easily avow openly."
UNESCO also made a moral statement:
UNESCO would start a campaign to spread the results of the report to a "vast public" such as by publishing pamphlets. It described Brazil as having an "exemplary situation" regarding race relations and that research should be undertaken in order to understand the causes of this "harmony".
Controversy
Despite the introduction stating that "The competence and objectivity of the scientists who signed the document in its final form cannot be questioned", the first version of the statement was heavily criticized. A revised edition in 1951 explained the controversy as "At the first discussion on the problem of race, it was chiefly sociologists who gave their opinions and framed the ‘Statement on race’. That statement had a good effect, but it did not carry the authority of just those groups within whose special province fall the biological problems of race, namely the physical anthropologists & geneticists. Secondly, the first statement did not, in all its details, carry conviction of these groups and, because of this, it was not supported by many authorities in these two fields. In general, the chief conclusions of the first statement were sustained, but with differences in emphasis and with some important deletions."Some examples of differences include that the first version argued that there was no evidence for intellectual or personality differences. The revised version stated that "When intelligence tests, even non-verbal, are made on a group of non-literate people, their scores are usually lower than those of more civilised people" but concluded that "Available scientific knowledge provides no basis for believing that the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development."
Another that the revised version acknowledged but did not name the 3 major races which were called the Mongoloid, the Negroid, and the Caucasoid in the first version.
The first version stated that "National, religious, geographic, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups: and the cultural traits of such groups have no demonstrated genetic connection with racial traits. Because serious errors of this kind are habitually committed when the term ‘race’ is used in popular parlance, it would be better when speaking of human races to drop the term ‘race’ altogether and speak of ethnic groups." The revised version instead stated that the experts "agreed to reserve race as the word to be used for anthropological classification of groups showing definite combinations of physical (including physiological) traits in characteristic proportions."
The statement
The 1951 revised statement stated that Homo sapiens is one species. "The concept of race is unanimously regarded by anthropologists as a classificatory device providing a zoological frame within which the various groups of mankind may be arranged and by means of which studies of evolutionary processes can be facilitated. In its anthropologicalsense, the word ‘race’ should be reserved for groups of mankind possessing well-developed and primarily heritable physical differences from other groups." These differences have been caused in part by partial isolation preventing intermingling, geography an important explanation for the major races, often cultural for the minor races. National, religious, geographical, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups.
Most anthropologists have classified humans into 3 large groups. Such a classification does not depend on any single physical character such as skin color. There is considerable overlap. With respect to most, if not all, measurable characters, the differences among individuals belonging to the same race are greater than the differences that occur between the observed averages for two or more races within the same major group.
Most anthropologists do not include mental characteristics in their classification of human races. "When intelligence tests, even non-verbal, are made on a group of non-literate people, their scores are usually lower than those of more
civilised people." However, overall, available scientific knowledge provides no basis for believing that the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development.
There is no evidence for the existence of so-called "pure" races" and no scientific justification exists for discouraging reproduction between persons of different races.
Legacy and other UNESCO statements
The UNESCO later published other similar statements on racismRacism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. In 1978, the UNESCO Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice stated that "All peoples of the world possess equal faculties for attaining the highest level in intellectual, technical, social, economic, cultural and political development" and "The differences between the achievements of the different peoples are entirely attributable to geographical, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors." Unlike the previous statement there was no consultation with scientific experts. It also argued for implementing a number of policies in order to combat racism and inequalities. It also stated that "Population groups of foreign origin, particularly migrant workers and their families who contribute to the development of the host country, should benefit from appropriate measures designed to afford them security and respect for their dignity and cultural values and to facilitate their adaptation to the host environment and their professional advancement with a view to their subsequent reintegration in their country of origin and their contribution to its development; steps should be taken to make it possible for their children to be taught their mother tongue."
A draft of the statement was prepared by the Director-General and "eminent specialists in human rights". It was discussed at a meeting by government representatives from over 100 member states. It was recommended that the representatives should include among them "social scientists and other persons particularly qualified to in the social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific aspects of the problem". A number of non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations sent observers. A final text of was adopted by the meeting of government representatives "by consensus, without opposition or vote" and later by the UNESCO General Conference, Twentieth Session.
In 1995, UNESCO published a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance to add to its dialogue about racial equality with recommendations for tolerant treatment of persons with varied racial and cultural backgrounds. It stated "Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is harmony in difference. It is not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal requirement. Tolerance, the virtue that makes peace possible, contributes to the replacement of the culture of war by a culture of peace."
The 1950 UNESCO statement contributed to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka".
See also
- Nazism and raceNazism and raceNazism developed several theories concerning races. The Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy of human race; at the top was the master race, the "Aryan race", narrowly defined by the Nazis as being identical with the Nordic race, followed by lesser races.At the bottom of this...
- Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)
- World Conference against RacismWorld Conference against RacismThe World Conference against Racism are international events organised by the UNESCO to struggle against racism ideologies and behaviours. Four conferences have been held so far, in 1978, 1983, 2001 and 2009...
- International Day for ToleranceInternational Day for ToleranceThe International Day for Tolerance is an annual observance declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. It is observed on 16 November...